This was Peierls's longest-running editorial commitment.

The journal was published by Taylor & Francis (Chairman N.F. Mott). It aimed to publish review articles on physics and its applications, intended to be of general interest to physicists whatever their specialism. Most of the articles were invited, though some were submitted in the usual way. Book reviews were also included in the journal.

The correspondence is conducted mainly with successive editors of the journal, G.R. Noakes (to Dec 1981), J.S. Dugdale (to Dec 1992) and P.L. Knight (from 1993). There are also some brief exchanges with colleagues, referees, authors and the publishers.

The content relates almost exclusively to articles suggested or submitted for publication, often including detailed comments by Peierls usually sent very promptly. In the course of his frequent travels, he kept in touch as far as possible and was assiduous in seeking new topics and trying to recruit new authors from his overseas contacts in Europe, USA and Russia. He contributed several articles himself, and there is a little correspondence relating to these. Minutes of meetings, lists or schedules of work in progress are also included.